A History of the Presidential Turkey Pardon

On Tuesday, President Trump continued the tradition of pardoning the National Thanksgiving Turkey.

Accompanied in the White House Rose Garden by First Lady Melania Trump and their son Barron, the president pardoned Drumstick, a 36-pound turkey who was raised in Western Minnesota along with his alternate, Wishbone.

Today, we continued a wonderful American Tradition at the White House. Drumstick and Wishbone will live out their days in the beautiful Blue Ridge Mountains at Gobbler’s Rest... pic.twitter.com/fsS8B8f5UR

In the 1920s, turkeys from across the country were sent to the White House.

Library of Congress

The chamber of commerce of Cuero, Texas, sent this 38-pound bird to Washington in a coop modeled after the White House in 1920.

Ronald Reagan was the first president to officially send turkeys off to live at a farm.

President Ronald Reagan pardons a turkey in 1988.

Getty Images

After 1981 it became the norm for presidents to send the presentation turkey to a farm, the White House Historical Association reports. Reagan's successor, George H.W. Bush, was the first president to officially grant the turkeys a pardon: "Let me assure you, and this fine tom turkey, that he will not end up on anyone's dinner table, not this guy," Bush said in 1989. "He's granted a presidential pardon as of right now—and allow him to live out his days on a children's farm not far from here."

What happens to them after the pardoning?

The turkeys will join last year’s turkeys, Tater and Tot, at Virginia Tech’s "Gobblers Rest" exhibit, where students and veterinarians care for the turkeys, and the public can visit them. During the Tuesday ceremony, Trump said, "As many of you know, I have been very active in overturning a number of executive actions by my predecessor. However, I have been informed by the White House Counsel's Office that Tater and Tot's pardons cannot under any circumstances be revoked. So we're not going to revoke them. So Tater and Tot, you can rest easy."

Tater, whom President Obama pardoned in 2016, now lives at Virginia Tech.

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